Life guard chest waders



P 9 J. P. SCHNELL 3,465,375

LIFE GUARD CHEST WADERS Filed March 27, 1968 I NVENTOR.

JOSEPH P. SCHNELL.

BY 5" W ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,465,375 LIFE GUARD CHEST WADERS Joseph P. Schnell, 977 Cordilleras Ave., San Carlos, Calif. 94070 Filed Mar. 27, 1968, Ser. No. 716,620 Int. Cl. B63c 9/16 U.S. Cl. 9-343 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A life guard chest waders for use by fishermen and duck hunters, and having a resilient and expandable air chamber secured to the inside top portion of the chest waders to define a built-in life jacket, the air chamber being made to form a substantially water-tight seal between the top of the chest waders and the wearers body when this chamber is inflated, thus preventing any appreciable amount of water from gaining access to the interior of the chest waders and further providing floating buoyancy for the wearer.

SUMMARY It is a well known fact that chest waders are worn by fishermen and duck hunters, and when the wearer wades into unknown water and suddenly steps into an unseen hole, or loses his balance in fast water, the chest waders will fill with water, making it difficult for the wearer to swim to safety.

An object of this invention is to provide a pair of waders that give a fisherman a ready and simple safety device while wading in fast and treacherous water; to provide duck hunters with a safety device when wading in the marshes; and to provide a Wader with a minimum of parts and bulkiness and still have safety assurance.

As a further object of the invention, it is proposed to provide chest waders with an air chamber providing a built-in life jacket that may be readily inflated in an emergency. This air chamber is expandable so as to press against the wearers body with a substantially water-tight seal, thereby preventing any appreciable amount of water from gaining access to the interior of the chest waders, and at the same time the inflated air chamber will permit the wearer to float and swim to safety.

A still further object of the invention is to provide life guard chest waders that are simple in construction, durable and eflicient for the purposes intended.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds, and the novel features of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a better understanding of the invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of my life guard chest waders showing them as being worn by a wearer;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the plane 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view, partly in elevation, of a C dispenser for inflating the air chamber; and

FIG. 4 is an elevational view, partly in section, of an air valve for use in inflating and deflating the air chamber.

While I have shown only the preferred embodiment of my invention, it should be understood that various changes, or modifications, may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing in detail, I have shown chest waders designated generally at A and having an upper body portion B dimensioned to cover the waist and chest of the wearer C, and further being provided with a pair of boots D formed integral therewith for receiving the wearers legs and feet. These chest waders have an open top 10 so that they may be pulled over the wearers feet, legs, waist and chest, with the top being disposed near the arm pits 11 of the wearer. Suspenders 12 are conventionally used for holding the chest waders A in place.

It will be noted that I have provided a resilient and expandable air chamber E that is secured to the inside top portion of the chest waders to define a built-in life jacket. When this air chamber is inflated, it will provide floating buoyancy for the wearer. Moreover, this air chamber is positioned to press against the wearers body with a substantially water-tight seal between the chest waders and the wearers body, when the air chamber is inflated, thus preventing any appreciable amount of water from flowing into the interior of the chest waders. As clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the air chamber E extends entirely around the wearers body, thus substantially sealing the circumferential length of the upper mrtion of the Waders against inflow of water into the interior of the waders.

The air chamber E is provided by an outer wall 13 of the upper portion of the chest waders that surrounds the body of the wearer and a strip of rubberized fabric or inner wall 14 having its marginal edges vulcanized to the wall 13 (see FIG. 1).

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a C0 dispenser F has been provided for quickly inflating the air chamber E during an emergency, forming the substantially watertight seal in the top portion of the waders and allowing the wearer to swim to safety, even though the wearer may be in fast and treacherous water. The life guard chest waders with its built-in life jacket gives the wearer a safe feeling when he goes beyond the safe limit, knowing that he can float and the chest waders will not fill with water.

In its structural features, the CO dispenser has a tubular main body 15 having a compartment for housing a pressurized cartridge 16. The body 15 is provided with a removable cap 17 to provide an air-tight closure over the top of the cartridge. An inflation lever 18 is swingably attached by a fulcrum pin 19 to the lower part of the body 15, and the outer end of this lever has a lanyard 20 connected thereto, with a pull knob 21 being provided on the lanyard, as shown in FIG. 3. When the lanyard is pulled, safety pin 22 releases, allowing an eccentric 23 on the inner end of the lever 18 to push pin 24 upwardly to puncture the seal 25 on the CO cartridge 16, releasing gas which flows through an opening 26 and a cap 27 so as to inflate the air chamber E. When the air chamber inflates, it presses against the wearers body in the manner previously stated and will permit the wearer to float.

As disclosed in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, an air valve G is provided, and this valve has a tube 28 communicating with the air chamber E and a removable cap 29 is secured to this tube. The latter has a passageway 30 through which the air chamber may be deflated or air under pressure may be forced through the passageway to inflate the air chamber B when the cap 29 is removed. A rubber patch 31 may be vulcanized to the air chamber for securing the tube 28 to the latter. Mouth inflation, bulb or pump may be used for forcing air into the air chamber through the passageway 30.

When the wearer of the life guard chest waders steps into a deep hole in the water, or loses his balance in fast water, he merely pulls on the lanyard 20 immediately inflating the air chamber E, allowing the wader to float and swim to safety. Without this built-in life jacket, when the wearer of chest waders falls, the waders soon fill with water, making it diflicult to swim, wade or save himself from drowning.

I claim:

1. Life guard chest waders comprising:

(a) chest Waders having an upper body port-ion dimensioned to cover the waist and chest of a wearer, and being provided with a pair of boots formed integral therewith for receiving the wearers legs and feet;

(b) the chest waders having an open top so that they may be pulled over the wearers feet, legs, Waist and chest;

() a resilient and inwardly-expandable air chamber secured to the inside top portion of the chest waders to define a built-in life jacket;

(d) means operable to inflate the air chamber to provide floating buoyancy for the wearer; and

(e) the air chamber having an inner wall readily conforming to and positioned to press against the wearers body without voids therebetween and with a substantially water-tight seal between the chest waders and the wearers body, when the air chamber is inflated, thus preventing any appreciable amount of water from gaining access to the interior of the chest Waders.

2. The life guard chest waders, as set forth in claim 1;

(f) and in which the air chamber extends entirely around the wearers body and is confined within the waders, the top portion of the waders being nonstretchable so that it will not expand outwardly beyond its existing size to encumber the wearer when the air chamber is inflated.

3. The life guard chest waders, as set forth in claim 1;

(f) and in which the air chamber is provided by an outer wall forming part of the upper portion of the chest waders that surround the body of the wearer and a strip of rubberized fabric disposed within the waders has its marginal edges vulcanized to said outer wall.

4. The life guard chest waders, as set forth in claim 1;

(f) and in which the means operable to inflate the air chamber is defined by a manually-actuated dispenser having a pressurized cartridge for quickly inflating the air chamber during an emergency.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,888,691 6/1959 Manning 9343 X 3,154,800 11/1964 Anderson 9343 3,296,636 1/ 1967 Markwitz 9340 3,392,405 7/1968 Ritziuger 9330 X MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner T. W. BUCKMAN, Assistant Examiner 

